Starting June 2019, agROBOfood, the 16 million EU project, builds the European ecosystem for the effective adoption of robotics technologies in the European agri food sector. agROBOfood accelerates the digital transformation to make the European agri food sector more efficient and competitive.

The challenges faced by farmers are immense, knowing that they are asked to produce more and better food while using fewer resources, to lower their environmental footprint and to meet evolving consumer demands. agROBOfood aims at maximising the return of EU investment in agri food robotics and advance Europe to become the vanguard in providing safe and adequate food in a sustainable way.

Innovation Experiments

The heart of the project is formed by Innovation Experiments, organized and monitored by Digital Innovation Hubs. In 7 Regional Clusters, initial experiments will demonstrate robotics innovations in agri food in a manner that ensures replicability and wide adoption across Europe.

Examples

To protect people from working in subzero temperatures, in the agROBOfood project a demonstrator robot will be built, a mixed palletiser to work in a freezer room. Another example will be to harvest fruit automatically, on time and with less manpower. This results in lower production and resource costs, whilst solving the labour shortage problem. Furthermore a demonstrator for cucumbers will be built which can judge the maturity and pick & handle fruits in a greenhouse. Many more examples will be shown, both by the consortium and by companies who can apply for funding in the open calls. The Digital Innovation Hubs and connected experts will support these innovation experiments.

Digital Innovation Hubs          
agROBOfood connects the world of Robotics and Agriculture, R&D and business by establishing a sustainable network of Digital Innovation Hubs. This consolidates, extends and strengthens the current ecosystem. Digital Innovation Hubs support companies in digitization by connecting technical, human and financial stakeholders.

agROBOfood will work closely with the broader European robotics community, ensuring synergetic effects with initiatives such as EU-Robotics. This will maximize the return of European investments, including private capital, in the digital transformation of agri food.

Read more here.